


A Small Comfort

by Freckles_From_Brooklyn



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Archive assitant shenanigans, Fluff, Season 1 era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:48:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29848674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freckles_From_Brooklyn/pseuds/Freckles_From_Brooklyn
Summary: The Archives are always cold. Luckily, Tim has a plan to combat that
Relationships: Martin Blackwood & Sasha James & Tim Stoker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	A Small Comfort

The Magnus Institute’s archives were always freezing. Numerous complaints had been made to various heads of the institute over the years, and many workmen had been through, but nothing ever worked. The archives always remained about ten degrees colder than the rest of the building. The people who worked in the archives had learned to adapt, wearing a lot of layers and developing an affinity for hot drinks, but it was never a pleasant experience. 

Martin Blackwood wrapped his arms around his friend and coworker, Sasha James. It had been a long day, and their boss, Jonathan Sims, had kept them busy doing follow-up research on countless statements. Sasha looked exhausted. Her normally cheerful demeanor had dropped around midday, there were bags under her eyes, and her curly brown hair was a mess. In short, she looked like she could use a hug, and Martin was happy to provide one. 

“Oh!” Sasha exclaimed as Martin hugged her. “Wow, you’re really warm!”

“Erm, sorry,” Martin said, beginning to pull back, but Sasha immediately wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer.

“No, no, it’s okay!” she said hurriedly. “It’s great, actually. I’ve been freezing all day. Please don’t let go. Tim, get over here!”

“Huh?” Tim Stoker stuck his head out from behind a shelf. “What’s going on?”

“Martin’s like a space heater!” Sasha said. “You’ve gotta get in on this! Um, that is, if it’s okay with you, Martin.”

“Yeah, no, it’s fine!” Martin replied, smiling as Tim joined the hug. 

“Hey, you’re right!” Tim said. “God, that’s amazing. We could use this!” Martin raised an eyebrow. 

“I don’t think I like the idea of being _used_ ,” he said. 

“Don’t worry, Marto, you’ll benefit from this too,” Tim said. “What if we built a blanket fort?”

“A blanket fort?” Sasha said incredulously. 

“You really think Jon’s gonna let us do that?” Martin asked. 

“He can’t stop us if we don’t tell him we’re doing it,” Tim replied. He detached himself from the hug, grabbing a scrap piece of paper and hurriedly scribbling some rough shapes onto it. “See, if we move our desks like so, we can build the fort in the middle! It’ll be fun! C’mon, please?” He gave Martin and Sasha puppy eyes. Martin and Sasha looked at each other. Sasha shrugged. 

“I don’t see why we can’t do it,” she said. 

“Sure, I’m on board with it if you two are,” Martin said. 

“Yessssss!” Tim cheered. “Alright, when you come in on Monday, bring all the blankets and pillows you can spare! This’ll be great!”

Per Tim’s request, Martin arrived at work on Monday with a black trash bag filled with a bunch of spare pillows and blankets. Sasha had gone thrift shopping over the weekend and scored a bunch of cushions, which she showed off proudly, and Tim had another garbage bag, filled similarly to Martin’s. They waited until they heard the telltale click and whirr of Jon’s tape recorder, then got to work. After they moved their desks into a rough semicircle, Sasha laid down the pillows and cushions while Martin and Tim tried fruitlessly to find a way to cover the whole thing with a blanket. They eventually gave up, deciding that the blankets could be better used elsewhere, and got to work. Martin was in the middle, with Tim and Sasha snuggled close on either side. They worked in contented silence, unaffected by the cold.

When Jon emerged from his office around midday, he didn’t see any of his archival assistants at their desks. He shrugged it off, assuming that they had just taken their lunch breaks, but he didn’t see them when he came back from his break either. He decided to take a look at their desks, in case one of them had left a note. What he found instead was a nest of pillows and blankets with his assistants snuggled up in the center. 

“What’s going on here?” he demanded. Tim, Sasha, and Martin all looked up at him. 

“Oh, hello, Jon!” Sasha said cheerfully. “We were sick of being cold, so we figured we’d huddle together to preserve body heat!”

“That seems rather… drastic,” Jon said. “Not to mention unprofessional.”

“Nonsense!” Tim argued. “We can get our work done just fine from here! Wanna join us?” Jon wanted nothing more than to take him up on his offer. There was a very inviting space on the other side of Sasha, and the cushions looked so soft and comfortable. He sighed. 

“No, thank you,” He said stiffly. 

“Aw, C’mon boss,” Tim said. “It’s warm down here!”

“No,” Jon said. “One of us has to be the adult in the room, and you three don’t exactly seem up to the task.” Tim just shrugged. 

“Your loss,” he said. Sasha hummed in agreement from Martin’s other side. 

“Are you going to tell Elias?” Martin asked nervously. Jon thought for a moment. He knew he technically should report this, but… 

“Not yet,” he decided. “Not unless it becomes a problem. See to it that it doesn’t.” he turned on his heel and walked back into his office. 

“Grumpy bastard,” Sasha mumbled. 

“Hey, give him a break,” Martin said. “At least he’s letting us keep this and he’s not telling Elias.”

“Yeah, lay off, Sash,” Tim teased. “That’s Martin’s boyfriend you’re talking about!” Martin went quite pink as Tim and Sasha howled with laughter. 

“Tim!” he cried. “Shut up! You promised not to talk about that here!” Their phones all pinged with a message from Jon. 

_Remember what I said about this not becoming a problem. I can always change my mind about telling Elias._

“You think he’ll rat us out?” Sasha said. 

“Nah,” Tim said. “He loves us.”


End file.
